Stories about questions

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With General Elections upon us, we took to the streets of Karachi to ask people the political party of their choice, with a twist: our very own Game of Politics (GoP). Everyone wonders who they’ll vote for, but how often do we question who we would NEVER vote for?
Talking to a variety of people, across gender, age and social class, we noticed some interesting patterns in what people said, and interestingly, even what they didn’t say.
Women were largely uncomfortable with answering questions pertaining to politics and being on camera as well; amidst a group of friends with both boys and girls, ...

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I request a reply.
Dad, please tell me,
Why
Is the earth not flat?
Oh, I don’t know that!
Why do bears hibernate?
Well, that’s out-of-date!
Why is the sun so hot?
I’m sorry, I forgot!
Where do the trade winds blow?
Come on, you should know!
Do you know how TVs work?
Let me call Mr Burke!
Or how the seasons change?
That’s out of my range!
What is the sense of smell?
Quite difficult to tell!
The capital of France?
No, I don’t stand a chance!
The speed of light?
Your science teacher might!
Any clue of aerosol?
It’s quite hard to recall!
Any Indian folklore?
I knew one before!
The length of lunar years?
I’ll break into tears!
Why a panda bear hides?
The cause of ...

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PK has undeniably been the most anticipated movie for the last few years. Apart from Aamir Khan’s fans, even film critics have been waiting to see producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s and director Rajkumar Hirani’s combination of magic.
PK revolves around a wide-eyed, rebellious yet innocent stranger in a city who goes by the initials of PK (Aamir) and the people he meets whilst exploring the new city. His journey starts from the middle of Rajasthan where he befriends a man named Bhairon Singh (Sanjay Dutt). Bhairon makes PK feel right at home but eventually, PK has to move on with his journey ...

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Let me begin by saying that I like Malala Yousafzai – she is courageous, authentic and has great conviction. But a couple of questions keep dwelling in my mind; why does the West like her so much? What is her appeal to them? And along with these questions dwells the answer as well, which is quite simple; the West is courting her because she represents a side of Pakistan and Islam that suits them.
By suggesting this, I am not trying to imply that Malala doesn’t deserve her accolades; she represents hope, valour, defiance and the image of a strong ...

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With Imran Khan turning many doubters into believers by the virtue of his unwavering, unfaltering and untiring show in Islamabad, I have no hesitation in admitting that his performance on the political ground is as bold as it used to be on the cricketing ground. His supporters have shown commendable commitment, as the sit-in at D-Chowk has crossed a golden jubilee mark thanks to street power in other cities – especially Karachi.
As I listen to his speeches, quite frankly, I love the idea of Naya Pakistan more and more each day, but what really confuses me is the model he is portraying and ...

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It is evident that, in today’s day and age, women become very sensitive when it comes to discussing matters of ‘age’. Some become defensive, while others become emotionally distraught.
Yesterday, a friend of mine shared a video with me on Facebook, and what a surprising video that turned out to be! In the clip, Meera is seen clarifying speculations about her age. She says,
“My age has always been a very complicated matter and ‘Googles’ also portrays my age incorrectly, even my date of birth. I was born on May 12 but ‘Googles’ shows otherwise. But for now all I ...

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Being a twin has not been easy for me, especially living in Pakistan. We’ve been stopped at restaurants, airports and even in the middle of the road by well-intentioned but annoying strangers.
Some would ask us if we were twins (as if it wasn’t obvious) and would marvel at our likeness when we confirmed it while others preferred to waste our time by playing ‘spot-the-difference’ and bombarding us with irrational, overly-personal and clichéd questions.
At the passport and driving licence offices, our National Identity Cards (NIC) have even been locked repeatedly because the computer detected one of us as a ‘suspect ...

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The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has proven to be an absolute mystery with more questions than answers.
The Boeing 777 plane, which was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members, departed Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 00:41 local time on March 8. Its transponder’s signal was lost to air traffic control at 1:22 local time while still over the sea in the Gulf of Thailand; barely 40 minutes into its flight to Beijing, China.
If there was one thing which was immediately clear, it was that Flight 370 had gone through a catastrophic event at 1:22 when its transponder stopped ...

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Her doctor thought she was an open mouth for him to dunk pills into. Instead, she turned out to be a person with thoughts, feelings and questions that were all left unaddressed.
As part of Pakistan’s tightly-knit community of doctors, it is common for us to share our horror stories about non-compliant, abusive patients with laughable misconceptions about drugs and bodily functions. We softly giggle at them mistaking left-sided abdominal pains for appendicitis, when the appendix is in fact on the right side.
And the unspoken conclusion drawn each time is that a patient is too uninformed to be trusted with his own ...

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Many people like to ask me questions about why I support former president Pervez Musharraf. As part of the questions, they like to pepper in the misinformation that the Pakistani media has presented to the public for consumption.
During one such discussion on Facebook, I was asked the following:
The question cum comment
“According to you, Khalid Muhammad, what were the positives and negatives of Musharraf’s tenure? People consider him to be the reason for drones, missing people (Aafia Siddiqui), Bugti murder case, Lal Masjid, all that happened to Pakistan after 9/11 (and) the current shortfall of electricity and gas. Suicide bombing took ...